1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image displaying device for reading image data which is assigned frame numbers from a recording medium in order to reproduce and display the image data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, many electronic cameras comprise image display functions for reproducing and displaying image files which have been recorded on recording media by photography, as occasion demands.
In an electronic camera such as the above, the image files obtained by photography are recorded on a recording medium such as a detachable memory card or the like in accordance with a hierarchy, for example, as shown in FIG. 1, based on a particular format such as DCF (Design rule for Camera File system) or the like.
FIG. 2 shows an example of the data structure of a memory card in which image files are recorded as above. However, it is to be noted that the memory card shown in FIG. 2 is a memory card that is managed by the FAT (File Allocation Tables) system. As shown in FIG. 2, in the memory card, directory areas and image file areas are provided. Each one of the directory areas records, as directory information, a top cluster number for an area recording directory information or image file located on a level that is one level lower than the directory, and each one of the image file areas records the image file itself. Accordingly, by sequentially tracing the above top cluster numbers from a root directory area, a desired image file can be accessed. For example, by sequentially tracing, from the root directory area, a “DCIM” directory area with a top cluster number “3” and a “100OLYMP” directory area with a top cluster number “10”, a “AAAA0001.jpg” file with a top cluster number “50” can be accessed.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-75833 discloses a file management device. Specifically, in order to conduct an inversion reproduction process of a video file, the device divides the video file into a plurality of division files and creates a control file in which the reproduction order of the plurality of the division files which have been divided is registered. When the inversion reproduction process of the video file is conducted, the inversion reproduction process is conducted by sequentially reading data from the plurality of the division files based on the created control file. Thereby, smooth inversion reproduction can be realized without wasting time reading data.
In other words, the above Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 6-75833 discloses a technique for conducting smooth reproduction of an image without wasting time reading data, by dividing the image to be reproduced into a plurality of groups and creating a control file in which the reproduction order of the image is registered, i.e. a technique of controlling the reproduction order of the image files which already exist.